Tracing The Hairstons

Interweaving her search for her African ancestors, director Princess A. Hairston unravels the history of the largest slave-holding family in the U.S. through the personal stories of Black and white individuals in the Hairston clan as her journey unveils a harrowing, hidden familial history, exposing America’s distorted narrative about slavery.

Towards the end of the American Civil War, the Hairstons, a unique family from Scotland, owned over 42 plantations and over 10,000 slaves in Virginia, North Carolina, and Mississippi. This film features interviews from both Black and white Hairstons, some of whom admit finding out the truth about their family’s history was appalling and scandalous. Tracing the Hairstons chronicles the unique story of the only family with the name Hairston to arrive in America and their journey to becoming one of the largest slave-holding families in American history. The descendants of the white Hairstons, finally open up about their troubled ancestry and the descendants of the enslaved finally get to tell their ancestor’s stories that have been silenced for far too long. Tracing the Hairstons reveals the struggles and triumphs of a family that is connected together through the worst atrocity in American History. We learn why this dynamic family sets itself apart to be one of the most unique and largest family names in American history as the director herself peels away the layers of her ancestral history.

Team

Princess A. Hairston – Producer | Director | Editor

Princess A. Hairston is a director, producer and Emmy-nominated editor based in New York City. Princess was recently selected as one of 25 filmmaker nominees for the 2020 Lynn Shelton Of A Certain Age grant. She recently produced a social video campaign for “Get Out The Vote” for Black Lives Matter. Princess recently edited a one-hour special for the 2020 Biden/Harris campaign. Princess was supervising editor for Pier Kids which premiered at DOCNYC 2019. She was an editor on Fresh Dressed, an official 2015 Sundance Film Festival selection, and edited the first two episodes of the Emmy-nominated series Capture with Mark Seliger. She was lead editor on Masterpiece of Love, a five-part 81-minute documentary series. Princess wrote and directed United States vs White Men, a narrative short and Don’t Expel the Blacks, a short documentary. She is a 2018 recipient of the Karen Schmeer Editing Fellowship and a 2018 Winner of the NYTVF + WEtv Producer Pitch which led to a development deal. Her work has been recognized with nominations and awards from the Emmys, The Webbys, and many film festivals.
Jameka Autry – Consulting Producer

Jameka Autry is a producer, director, and 2020 Women at Sundance | Adobe Fellow. Past fellowships and honors include the 2019 Sundance Creative Producing Lab Fellowship, 2017 Impact Partners Creative Producing Fellowship, and 2018 Double Exposure Investigative Film Fellowship. In 2018 she was selected as part of the inaugural DOC NYC 40 Under 40 List. She was recently awarded the Sundance/A&E Brave Storyteller Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and 2019 Post Graduate Fellowship at the Investigative Reporting Program at the UC Berkeley School of

Journalism. Currently she balances her film projects with her new role as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. Most recently she completed work on Through The Night, which premiered at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Other producing works include Emmy award winning Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops, which won the jury grand prize at SXSW and Boston International Film Festival, and premiered on HBO in Fall 2019.
Maria Judice – Consulting Producer

Maria Judice is a storyteller. Through the visual, social, and mobile landscape she has crafted a space to support authentic voices in media as an Impact Producer. Working as an Impact Producer she has brought social campaigns and outreach to films including HEIST: Who Stole the American Dream (2015), Ayiti Mon Amour (2016), A Thousand Midnights (2016), JINN (2018), Life After Life (2017), Life Underground (2017), Solace (2018) and The Long Shadow (2015). She mobilized a grassroots Oscar campaign for Ayiti Mon Amour, Haiti’s first selection into the Oscars in 2017. She also Co-Produced Dreamstates (2016) with Anisia Uzeyman featuring Saul Williams and Neptune Frost directed by Saul Williams (2021).
Sheila Smith – Director of Photography

Sheila Smith, Director of Photography, is an award-winning Director of Photography and Steadicam operator. Sheila has operated on features including Step Up 2 and The Runner with Nicholas Cage, and numerous documentaries including The Legend of Shorty, Divine Trash and Oscar-nominated Spellbound. On The Wire, Veep and Covert Affairs, Sheila operated as a day player. She was director of photography on many theatrical-release documentaries such as The Last One, Aids Memorial Quilt which aired on Showtime. Her steadicam credits include the Colbert Report, national commercials and many independent features and shorts. In 2009, Sheila won the Women of Vision award from WIFV-DC and in 2000 the Director of Photography/Film DC Peer Award.
Nina Hospedales – Editor

Nina Hospedales is a film editor who was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago and is currently based in New Jersey. As an Editor, Nina has a diverse background in creative storytelling on various true crime TV shows that have aired on Investigation Discovery, Discovery Channel and Oxygen Network. She has also worked on several major projects for ABC News Live; most recently for the 2021 Presidential Inauguration of President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Though her training began in television, Nina has turned her focus to deeper, personal and more meaningful projects. What connects her to the film Tracing the Hairstons is her empathetic curiosity to the struggles of these black families throughout American history and how it connects to today’s events.
Virginie Danglades – Consulting Editor

Virginie Danglades is a film and TV editor who works on strong character- and story-driven, verité-style documentaries as well as intimate narrative features and shorts. She recently completed Unladylike2020, a series of video shorts and a one hour special for PBS American Masters. Her documentary features include Sans Adieu which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 and Wine Crush which opened at the NYCDOC Film Festival in 2019. Reconstruction, America after the Civil War, a 4-part PBS mini series was awarded the Dupont - Columbia University Awards for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.

Virginie is committed to editing films that tell relevant stories and embrace people’s often daunting journeys to help foster conversations about our humanity, social justice and issues of human rights; in sum, content and film projects that will help further the understanding of our complicated world.
Davone Alexis - Assistant Editor

Davone Alexis is an Editor and Assistant Editor based in New York. He was born in Brooklyn but raised on the small island of Carriacou, Grenada. His philosophy, “Everyone has a story to tell” is what captivates Davone and his love for documentary storytelling. His dedication to editing derives from his ability to structure cohesive stories that evoke raw emotions. Davone is currently a member of Third Horizon Media, a creative collective dedicated to giving a voice to stories of the Caribbean. His editing credits include Panorama: Jamming to the Top (2018), a feature-length documentary that follows the journey of several steel bands in Brooklyn as they prepare to compete in Panorama. Davone’s recent Assistant Editor credits includes High Score for Netflix and the Critics Choice Award nominee Between the World and Me for HBO.

Davone has cut various documentaries as well as commercials for Haier, The Boys and Girls Club, and Gabrielle Union. His work has been screened at various festivals throughout the United States and the Caribbean.